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Pakistan captain Mohammad Rizwan and coach Azhar Mahmood blamed injuries and pressure for their 2025 Champions Trophy exit. Key players Saim Ayub and Fakhar Zaman were injured.
Mohammad Rizwan. (AP Photo)
Pakistan captain Mohammad Rizwan and assistant coach Azhar Mahmood have blamed injuries and ‘a lot of pressure’ against India for the team’s group-stage exit in the home 2025 Champions Trophy.
Pakistan lost in-form opener Saim Ayub well before the start of the tournament due to an ankle injury he picked up in a Test against South Africa at the start of the year. 2017 Player of the Match in the final against India Fakhar Zaman was roped in but strained an oblique muscle while fielding in the first over of the opening match against New Zealand, which Pakistan lost by 60 runs, and ended up being ruled out, too.
Imam-ul-Haq opened against India but couldn’t impress and the team lost by six wickets. Their final league stage game against Bangladesh on Thursday was washed out due to rain.
“We haven’t played well in this tournament,” Mahmood said in the post-match press conference on Thursday, as quoted by PTI. “We have played good cricket in this format, but in the tournament, it has not gone well because of injuries. Against India, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves. We know where we need to improve. It is all about adapting and taking responsibility. The results have also been a surprise for us,” he added.
Amid calls to change the team’s players and set-up, again, Mahmood called for more backing.
“We have to stick with the talent we identify for it to come good over the months,” he said.
Pakistan became the first host nation to end an ICC tournament without winning any matches. It was their fourth consecutive failure to cross the group stage since 2022 and extended the trophy-less run to eight years.
Meanwhile, Rizwan admitted feeling disappointed for letting the country down.
“We wanted to do well and perform well in front of our nation. The expectations are very high. We didn’t perform well and it is disappointing for us,” he said after the match. “We are next going to New Zealand and, hopefully, we can perform there and the mistakes that we did against New Zealand here in Pakistan, we can learn from that. And we will do better in New Zealand. “
“The guy who has been performing from the last few months in Australia, South Africa, Zimbabwe… the team was combined and then suddenly when someone is injured, the team will be disturbed,” added Rizwan. “As a captain, you can look forward to that as well. One side you can say that the team is disturbed, but this is no excuse. Yes, Fakhar Zaman and Saim Ayub were injured, but we will learn from this,” the captain added.
Rizwan promised to make a stronger comeback.
“We are all very disappointed. We are all here for the nation. Pakistan is our priority and the expectation from us is very high. We are upset and we are accepting that we didn’t do well. Hopefully, we will do more hard work and come back,” added Rizwan.
- Location :
Rawalpindi, Pakistan
